The present invention relates to a magnetic recording medium such as a magnetic disk, a magnetic drum or a magnetic tape.
Conventionally, magnetic recording media have been prepared by particulate coatings with magnetic substance or powder such as metal oxides or alloys that are dispersed in organic binders. However, demands for higher recording density are continuously increasing and researchers' attention has been drawn to methods of forming thin films of ferromagnetic metals such as iron, cobalt, nickel or alloys thereof by a variety of techniques including electroplating, electroless plating, vacuum evaporation and sputtering. Among the systems produced by these methods, cobalt alloy magnetic recording media have particularly high coercive forces and residual magnetization and are adapted for high-density recording. In order to achieve even higher recording densities with such cobalt alloy magnetic media, they must satisfy two additional requirements: first, a higher coercive force squareness ratio (hereinafter abbreviated as S.sup.*), and secondly, a higher output with a smaller noise.